A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Catholic Church will collaborate with statutory sex and relationship classes in primary and secondary schools

The British government announced today that it intends to make sex and relationship education compulsory throughout both primary and secondary schools. In a simultaneous announcement, the Catholic Education Service makes it clear, not only that it will collaborate with the government’s plans, but that it hopes that parents will not choose to opt out by withdrawing their children from sex education.

The CES says: “… the Government calls for PSHE [personal, social and health education] to be made statutory across all maintained schools in England, including primary and secondary. Programmes of study are still to be drawn up but reassurance has been given that these will not be so prescriptive in character as to involve conflict with Catholic teaching … The statutory rights of parents to withdraw their children from sex education remain but it is our hope that parents will not find the need to exercise this right as children are likely to benefit from experiencing SRE amongst their friends and peers. …"

The CES statement is painfully disingenuous – in view of what is known to be going on in Catholic schools as a consequence of government advisers already being welcomed by the Catholic Education Service in Catholic schools, a point I have a number of times in this blog.

And why does Catholic Church appear, through its Catholic Education Service in England, to be marching in step with the Government – even to the point of making their complementary policy announcements simultaneously?

The first task of everyone entrusted with the Gospel of life is, surely, to oppose government plans to promote and to entrench the abortion culture amongst young people of all faiths and none? SPUC will certainly be keeping its supporters posted on the implications of the government's plans and what constituents should be saying to their MPs.

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John Smeaton

About me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 33 years. I became director of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.

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